Oct 23, 2008

malaysianinsider | "I think Shah Rukh Khan deserves the honorary Datukship. But this does not mean local artistes do not deserve the same honour. But do not revoke the award for it to be given to local artistes. We have more awards to be conferred to ourselves," said Mahathir in his latest blog posting.

"I am embarrassed when the Datukship award to Shah Rukh Khan was questioned. We have always been conferring honorary Datukship to foreigners in appreciation of their contribution to the states or the country. Some of them did not contribute as much as Shah Rukh Khan," said Dr Mahathir.

He added that when he was involved in the conferring of titles, most of the time he did not know the persons recommended to received the awards.

"I have worked towards attracting Bollywood film makers to shoot here as a way to introduce Malaysia not only to Indian viewers but also Europeans. The reason is to attract tourists to Malaysia," he added.

"Not only we can attract tourists, but the filming activities forced the Bollywood firms to spend a lot of money. Many workers and other Malaysians benefited from it. And sometimes, Shah Rukh Khan performed for free for charities," said Mahathir.... selanjutnya.